Talking myself out of a rut used to be easy. I would remind myself I had:
- A roof over my head
- Money in the bank
- Modern conveniences
- A steady job
- Solid health
- Good friends
- Finer luxuries
But, 8 years ago, when I was ill-equipped to navigate the stress of:
- A toxic workplace
- A painful divorce
- Recurring illness
- Raising two small children
- Being the single head of household
- My ailing father
…those things didn’t carry the same weight. There was no amount of gratitude that helped me.
To be honest, reflecting on all the good things I had in my life made me feel guilty for feeling stressed and depressed in the first place.
When burnout set in, I sank from guilt to cynicism.
Then, I learned something that changed my life forever:
Gratitude has nothing to do with what you HAVE.
Gratitude has everything to do with what you FEEL.
Can you recall the last time your body felt flooded with a rush of positive emotion?
Maybe it was from…
A slow kiss, or
The sun shining warmly on your face, or
An unexpected call from an old friend, or
Belly laughing with your child.
Gratitude is felt from savoring those joy-filled moments as you experience them.
When you feel gratitude, this is what happens –
1. You elevate your emotional home to joy.
Joy is one of the most powerful emotions on the scale of human emotion.
Here is the scale of emotional energy according to Dr. David R. Hawkins, author of Letting Go: The Pathwau of Surrender. On a logarithmic scale of 1-1000, you can see that joy is close to the top.
Why does this matter? Because –
2. Law of attraction states you attract what you embody.
That means, if you feel the presence of joy, you will attract more joy to your life.
If you are wondering what I did to add gratitude to my life, I narrowed it down to these two practices:
1. I savored special moments from the day, EVERY day, as it was happening. I let joy flow through my veins.
2. I spent 10 mins asking myself 4 simple questions to remind me that my life is plentiful. You can try it, too, by downloading this worksheet.
By doing these two things consistently for 6 months, this is what happened –
My mental health improved.
I went from feeling stressed and depressed to inspired and opportunistic. More than that, I felt my life was enough as it was.
Insight: When your emotional home is elevated, you see the world through a different lens.
I was regularly surprised with abundance.
There were many times I was brought to tears with little miracles that presented themselves (ex. a job opportunity with less demands, a large credit in the mail from my mortgage company, an amicable agreement to my divorce.)
Insight: When you live with joy, joy finds it way back to you.
My relationships flourished.
Because I felt more abundant, I had more of myself to offer to my family and friends. The generosity and attention I offered created a reciprocal loop of support and love that strengthened our bonds.
Insight: Gratitude creates depth in your relationships.
Gratitude is the secret to living an abundant life.
If you practice gratitude every day, you can declare a joy-filled life.
Imagine that!
Xo,
Alyson
p.s. When you feel ready, here are 2 more ways you can drastically increase the power, purpose and well-being in your life…
PowerPath to Joy to become the CEO of your life. The private coaching partnership will help you powerfully live the life you only thought possible in another lifetime.
Joyless to Joyous to reclaim time, energy, and joy you’ve been sacrificing for your work. Our 6-week virtual masterclass runs twice per year.
